Thursday, July 12, 2012

Any guesses?? I'll give you a hint...they taste like a pickle :)
The yummiest & easiest 24 hour dill pickle ever!! No really....ever....

Now that you know what is all in it let me fill you in on the rest....This is an old family recipe & I own the rights so please do not sell them or I will find you...lol. On we go....

3 to 4 pounds pickling cucumbers

BRINE:

4 Cups vinegar

12 Cups water

1/2 Cup salt

1/4 Cup sugar

dill (preferably fresh but seeds will work)

Here are the easy peasy directions....

You place the vinegar, water, salt & sugar into a large pot....bring to a full hard boil....that's it for the brine﻿

While the brine is on the stove you will want to prep your pickles....oops I meant cucumbers :) Just cut into 4 slices....

You then are just going to layer your cukes & dill in a couple of layers.

Once your brine is done *carefully* pour the brine over the pickle/dill concotion....

That's it....you're done!! The last thing I do though to keep anything from flying in my awesome pickles is I lay a heavy plate over the top of the bowl....stick in the corner & let sit for 48 hours....I know I said they are 24 hour dills but the flavor is really enhance by letting them sit a bit longer....

This is where they will stay until i'm ready to eat them....

NOTE: could be eaten in 24 hours but 48 is much better....

When they are done just fill mason jars evenly with pickles, dill and brine and put in the fridge. They last pretty long.....

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

So who doesn't love salisbury steak? A crazy person right:) I was so used to the salisbury steak that you would buy in the "frozen" section...That was OK when I was a kid but now that i'm a big kid I want the real deal. I came across this recipe for a slow cooker salisbury steak.....what? ... someone just said my favorite summer word! SLOW COOKER... I was so there! Here's how it's done...

You start with your basic ingredients that you may even have in your pantry....well except for the ground beef & the milk:)

You will start by mixing the ground beef, dry onion soup, breadcrumbs & milk in a bowl. Next you will need to make 8 patties but to make this easier on myself I score the meat into 8 sections before making into patties.

Then I will roll them into 8 balls just to assure that they are generally the same size

Now for the fun part! The squishing

You could do it between 2 pieces of parchment paper but I found it just as easy to do it with my hands. Once the patties are all made the next step will be to brown them quickly. That's where the oil & flour come in. Heat oil in large fry pan & lightly dip both sides of patties in flour.

Once floured , quickly brown on both sides to achieve this awesome look....

When you get all 8 of your patties browned it's time to pyramid them in the slow cooker.

Aren't they pretty:)

Once all the "hard work" is done it's time to mix together the gravy that you will have when they are done. Mix in a bowl the soups, dry au jus mix and beef broth. Tada!! Instant gravy!

How yummy does this look!!

You will cook them in slow cooker on low 4 to 5 hours or until the beef is done. If you wanted you could add your favorite potatoes to the slow cooker 2 hours before expected end time. I know opening the lid breaks the cardinal rule but trust me....with this it does not make a difference.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

So what do you get when you cross:
1.Granny Smith Apples 2.Cool Whip & 3.Snickers bars ? The easiest & tastiest summer picnic dish! A Mom in my daisy troop brought this to the bridging ceremony....yummo!!

So here is the whole list you will need to get at the store! I love recipes with not a lot of ingredients!

What you will need is just these 3 items....

(1) 3lb bag of granny smith apples

(1) small tub of Cool Whip

(3) regular sized snickers bars

....

that's it!!

In a large bowl cut up the apples into bite size pieces...﻿

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*** My little trick to keep the apples from sliding all over is I just slice a bit off the bottom so it sits flat ***

Next you're just going to cut up the snickers bars...the best part with this is if a few "pop off" the cutting board you get to eat them :)

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Add this to the apples & give a little mix. The last & final step is to add the Cool Whip. This is how it will look when it is completely mixed in....

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There's just something with the sour apple & the sweet cool whip & the yumminess of the snickers bars. This will be a "big" hit at your next picnic or just something to munch on in summer!

Monday, January 2, 2012

For those of you who like to bake as well as cook......ooh ooh ooh....me!! I do I do.....I came across a recipe for "do it yourself" Vanilla extract. (which I use a ton of) It could not be simpler....

Vodka & Vanilla beans.....pretty easy huh! That's what I though. You just cut your vanilla beans in half ~ put them into a jar ~ add Vodka.....voila!!! It will take a couple of months so make sure you put the date you did it on the bottom with a piece of tape (if I put in on a calendar I know I would lose the calendar!) The only work you have to do is give it a good shake once a day! It will start to turn brown in about a week. Just keep up the shaking & in 2 months you have vanilla extract!

When the 2 months are up just simply remove the vanilla bean & strain really well through cheese cloth to remove all of the seeds.......Guaranteed to never run out!

OMG.....that is all I have to say about this!! I wanted to take on a challenge for a Christmas dessert....what else could there be but a Croquembouch!! From the homemade "cream puffs" to the filling.

My 1st strategy was to get all of the cream puffs done....

So on the 1st day I made all of the cream puffs.....

using just your basic ingredients..... cream puffs were created.....

**I know I had a pic of them but it must of been erased**

On the 2nd day I did 2 things....made the filling &

ran to the store to get the base of the Croquembouch....my foam cone....

Oh look ~

There are some of the cream puffs on the side hanging out....the cone is white but what I did was cover it with 2 layers of heavy duty aluminum foil....

Now to make the salted caramel drizzle.....mmmmm.....like my cream puffs the pic of this has disappeared also (that's what happens when the kids take the camera).....

For the caramel drizzle I just took :

2 1/2 C sugar

1 T Sea salt

2/3 C water

**cooked it until golden brown**

For the filling:

2 to 3 C heavy whipping cream

1/3 C to 2/3 C powdered sugar

so easy!!!

Now onto the fun part.....

With the filled cream puffs I started to build of course from the bottom placing my 1st toothpick about 1" from the bottom & just going from there.....

Dipping 1/2 of the cream puff + about a third of the top & placing it on the toothpick.

**At times the Caramel would cool so I would just reheat it.**

At the end of the Croquembouche I would use the slightly cooled caramel & make caramel "hairs" all over.....I would then take a fork and make the same hairs allllllll over until it completely enveloped the top....